It's not quite the tune the Dodgers were hoping to hum on Saturday. Los Angeles dropped their fourth straight game, falling 3-2 to the St. Louis Cardinals in a frustrating afternoon that felt all too familiar.

Roki Sasaki's outing was a tale of two halves. The young right-hander looked sharp early, mowing through the first two innings with poise—striking out Nolan Gorman and J.J. Wetherhold to escape jams. But the third inning brought trouble. Iván Herrera and Alex Burleson greeted Sasaki with back-to-back doubles to put St. Louis on the board, and Jordan Walker followed by crushing an inside slider over the left-field wall for a three-run homer. That blast marked the eighth home run Sasaki has allowed this season, tied for fifth-most in the majors, and the fourth in his last two starts alone.

To his credit, Sasaki settled down after that rough patch, retiring nine straight batters and completing six full innings for the first time this season while throwing a career-high 104 pitches. But the damage was done. A troubling trend continues for Sasaki: he's allowed just one run in the first two innings across six starts, but his ERA skyrockets to 9.72 from the third inning onward, surrendering 18 runs in that span. On the bright side, his control is improving—he's walked only three batters over his last 11 innings.

The Dodgers' offense, meanwhile, couldn't find a rhythm against Cardinals starter Michael McGreevy. They hit into four double plays on the day, including a killer inning-ending twin-killing by Will Smith in the first. In the second, they had two men on with less than two outs but couldn't push a run across. It wasn't until the ninth inning that Los Angeles finally broke through, scoring two late runs to avoid a second shutout in as many weeks, but it was too little, too late.

For Dodgers fans, this is a tough stretch—but it's still early. If Sasaki can bottle that first-inning magic and extend it deeper into games, and if the bats can find some timely hits, this team has the pieces to turn things around. Stay patient, and keep repping those blue threads. Better days are ahead.